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Baby Hygiene

Hygiene plays a crucial component of a baby's overall care. Practicing
a good hygiene is extremely important to keep your baby happy and
healthy all the time. Apart from the basic cleanliness, there are
certain areas that require special attention to avoid any kind of
infection. Following are certain tips on how to follow a good hygiene
to keep your young one jolly and healthy all the time.

BATHING

A good bath is necessary to keep the baby clean and tidy. But make sure you are not over-bathing your baby. Bathing the baby 2 or 3 times a week is sufficient in the first year. Excessive bathing can lead the skin to go dry and chip. SPONGE BATH

It is advised to go for sponge bathing your baby till the time the navel area gets completely healed.

Position the baby on a surface that is not hard,( spread a soft towel), in a warm room.

Arrange for a warm water, a moist bath linen, and gentle baby soap . Make sure all these things are easily accessible.

One of your hands should all the time be on the baby.

Expose only that area of baby's body which is to be washed, keeping the rest of the body covered by a towel.

Do not use soap on baby's face. And wash rest of the body using mildly soapy water.

BATHING THE BABY

Arrange for a tub, towel, warm water(warm at a temperature that suits the inside of your wrist), mild soap, soft cloth, baby shampoo.

Make sure all these things are ready before undoing the baby's clothes.

Line the tub with a clean and soft towel.

Fill in approximately 2 liters(5 cm) of warm water.

Wash baby's face and hair with a soft wash cloth, make sure that water does not enter baby's eyes . It is essential to shampoo baby's hair once or twice in a week.

Wrap the baby completely in a soft and clean towel immediately after the bath.

Make sure you are washing only and strictly the outer ear and not the inside of the ear.

Never use a cotton bud or swab to clean baby's ear as it can lead to damage of eardrum leading to permanent deafness.

If your baby shows symptoms like fever, irritability and again and again touches his/her ear , it is possible the baby might have an ear infection. Take him to the pediatrician immediately.

NOSE

Proper cleaning of baby's nose is also essential part of the over all cleanliness of the baby.

Look out for dried mucus collected in the nose, this can sometimes create problem for the baby to breathe.

Use a damp wash cloth to gently clean any dried mucus in the nostrils.(Stop if the baby is feeling irritated and upset.)

a nasal syringe can be of great help to remove excess mucus from a co

Use a nasal syringe to remove excess mucus from a runny or engorged , to avoid any kind of breathing problem.

CORD

This an important part of the baby and it requires extra special care and cleanliness, until it falls off, which happens normally in a few weeks after birth.

Make sure that you clean the cord, every time you change the diaper. This will keep the cord dry and will prevent any kind of infection.

Use a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol to clean the area around the cord.

Make sure that the cord does not get inside the diaper and get soaked in urine. To avoid this keep baby's diaper folded below the naval area.

Any kind of pus or redness near the base of the cord, should be reported to the doctor.

Make it a point to visit the doctor if your child cries on touching the chord.

Mother's should be aware of the fact that a little redness and a little amount of discharge is an indication of normal healing.

DIAPERS

Cloth diapers are less expensive than disposable ones, but unless you use a diaper service, cloth diapers are more work for you. Most newborns use about 10 diapers a day. If you are going to wash diapers, start with about 4 dozen. You can always buy more if you find this isn't enough.

Before you start to change your baby, make sure you have everything you will need. Always take your baby with you if you have to step away from the changing table-even if it's just for a second.

Here's what you'll need to change your baby: A clean diaper and fasteners (if you are using cloth diapers) Cotton A small basin with lukewarm water and a washcloth

Sterilization

Every mother wants her baby to remain happy and free of any kind of infection or ailment. There are a few things that a mother must always take care of in order to keep her baby healthy and eliminate the risk of any health problem. Taking care of the equipments that the baby use forms the integral part of well being.

Care of feeding equipment

A feeding bottle is used by all the babies , irrespective of the fact that they are on breast feed. Even breastfeeding mothers require a bottle for expressed milk. So it becomes extremely important to pay special attention to keep the bottles clean and sterile.

All the articles that come in the contact of milk for the baby must be washed in hot soapy water. Make use of the special bottle brush in order to remove any kind of milk residue from them. See that the hole of the teat is not choked by splashing water over it.

Use clean water to wash and sterilize the things and make sure that you keep them in a sterile location. Do not use a teat that shows the signs of any kind of wear and tear. Make sure you replace the teat regularly.

STERILIZING TECHNIQUES

Basically there are four main techniques to sterilize the bottles and other things once they have been washed thoroughly.

1. BOILING

Place the bottles in a big covered saucepan and pour water enough to cover them. Let the water to come to a boil and let it boil on slow gas for 10 minutes. Do not take the bottles out of the covered pan unless they are needed.

2. STEAM STERILIZATION

In this kind of Sterilization, the bottles and teats are kept in special equipments designed for steam generation. And then the water is poured into the stem unit as per the procedure.

3. CHEMICAL STERILISATION

In this technique of Sterilization one needs sterilizing tablets for liquids and a special container. Make sure you follow the procedure mentioned on the sterilizing tablets or fluid to make a solution. The teat and the bottles should be completely covered with the solution. Now complete the procedure as mentioned. Whenever you need a bottle, make sure you rinse it with cool, boiled water before using it.

4. MICROWAVE STEAM STERILIZATION

In a number of ways this method is identical to the steam Sterilization. Here the objects are first kept in a special container and then are placed in the microwave. Now follow the steps as mentioned for the time and temperature for which the microwave is to be set.